Never did I think that one of the side plotlines of COVID-19 would involve former Reading striker Dave Kitson attempting a coup to take control of the PFA and subsequently being exposed as a racist, but here we are.
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Kitson presented a document yesterday in which he revealed his plans for revamping the PFA, claiming that it had let countless players down numerous times, including himself. He said the following in an interview with Talk Sport:
It’s scandalous what is going on at that organisation and somebody needs to step in and change it.
I’ve spoken to probably 300 players and three quarters of them have had no interaction with the PFA.
The PFA don’t know where they are, they have lost all of their contact details. It’s an absolute shambles.
I’m ashamed to be a member. The union’s handing of COVID-19 has been nothing short of a disgrace.
They’ve shown how irrelevant and out of touch they are. It’s such a shame that it takes something as serious as this, which is touching everyone around the world, to show the worst of a union that should be protecting us.
In terms of the players that are playing right now, I haven’t spoken to a player who has a good word to say about Gordon Taylor, but more worryingly about the PFA.
Half of them just laugh if you ask them if the PFA has helped them.
I’ve released 10 key policy points in the proposal. I’m the biggest critic of Gordon Taylor’s wage, I just find it a disgrace that a union leader should be paid that much money. It’s eight per cent of the PFA’s total turnover.
Nobody needs that amount of money to run the PFA. It is criminal. The PFA brag on their Instagram account they spend £2m-a-year on mental health. That’s about half a million less than Gordon Taylor’s annual wage.
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I mean the guy kinda has a point there. I’ve never really thought or cared about the PFA, but if what he’s saying is true then it does sound like the whole organisation is a bit of a joke.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Kitson is the right man to take over from Taylor when he does depart next year. A whole bunch of people – including players and ex players – launched an extraordinary attack on him via Twitter, claiming that he was a racist and that his appointment wouldn’t best represent the vast majority of players in the league.
They had evidence as well, pointing to Kitson’s Instagram account where he regularly stuck up pictures of himself playing against black players who were tagged as different black players. I guess this was in the name of humour, but it’s not really funny now and decades past the sell by date of when some uneducated people may have found it funny.
In the interests of playing devil’s advocate here, there are also instances where he’s done this with white players and Spanish players which I’ve included below, but this only saves to magnify two points: this isn’t even slightly funny so why is he continuing to pursue it and how in 2020 can you not realise that implying black people (or Spanish people for that matter) all look the same is woefully misguided, uneducated, inappropriate and racist?
— Rob (@RobCurzo) May 1, 2020
Kitson himself will probably say something like ‘oh yeah it was a bit of a joke, I’ve done it for white people as well so it’s not racist’, but that’s just displaying his ignorance on the subject and a lack of understanding as to why it would be offensive to black people. That’s pretty much exactly why he shouldn’t be installed to the over the PFA when Taylor leaves.
There’s also this interview talking about Raheem Sterling, when he implies that black players sometimes bring the abuse that they receive upon themselves;
A lot of talk about Dave Kitson today and his proposals for the PFA.
Never forget…. pic.twitter.com/MfnPcRBNRD
— Boot Room Podcast 🎙 (@BootRoomPodcast) April 30, 2020
Ugh. On top of this there’s also the very well known fact that Dave Kitson is in fact ‘The Secret Footballer’ and was writing up stories about his teammates anonymously behind their backs to make money for years.
Don’t really think that ANYONE involved in football wants this guy representing them and his attempt to gain power has spectacularly backfired as now everyone is just talking about what a racist and an asshole he is. Own goal. (lol sorry).
For more of the same, check out this old man getting knocked out for using a racist term. Good.
